Coffee is a fresh food

Freeman pointed out that coffee is a fresh food product. "We've forgotten about that in the past 50 years with the invention of instant coffee," he said. "You go to the supermarket and buy something with a three-year use-by date. But coffee really is a fresh food. So if you can get it recently roasted you're well on your way to getting great coffee. There's no comparison.

Andy Freeman, online coffee retailer and operator of the Coffeesnobs website (buy the best grinder you can afford, he suggested).

From Gordon Farrer of The Age.